The four great truths
Four tenets or principles, called the four truths, sum up the essentials of Buddhism.[267] These are the truth of pain, the origin of pain, the destruction of pain, and the eightfold way that “leads to the quieting of pain.”[268]
The first three of these truths form the philosophical basis of Buddhist ethics, and to a brief exposition of these tenets we shall devote the immediately following sections. The fourth truth is a summary of the ethics of Buddhism,[269] and therefore what we shall have to say about it will appropriately find a place under the next subdivision of this chapter when we come to speak of the moral ideal of Buddhism.
The truth of pain
The truth of pain, in the language of the sacred scriptures, is this: “Birth is pain, death is pain, clinging to earthly things is pain.”
This is simply an expression, with added emphasis, of that world-weariness, of that despair of life, which we have seen pressing like an incubus upon the spirit of Brahmanic India. Buddhism teaches that life is an evil, that misery and sorrow and pain are inseparable from all modes of existence. We shall be able to get the Buddhist’s point of view if we bear in mind how we ourselves sometimes look upon this earthly life. In despondent moods we ask, “Is life worth living?” and make answer ourselves by declaring that if this earthly life is all, then there is in it nothing worth while. If now we extend this gloomy view so as to make it embrace the life to come as well as the life that now is, we shall have the viewpoint of the true Buddhist. To him life not only in this world but in all other possible worlds is transitory, illusive, and painful, and in utter despair and weariness he longs to be through with it all and to lay down forever the intolerable burden of existence.[270] “As the glow of the Indian sun causes rest in cool shades to appear to the wearied body the good of goods, so also with the wearied soul, rest, eternal rest, is the only thing for which it craves.”[271]
The origin of pain
The truth of the origin of pain is this: “It is the thirst for life, together with lust and desire, which causes birth and rebirth.”
It should be noted here that there are different interpretations given to this tenet. Some understand by it not that all desires, but simply evil desires, cause and feed the flame of life; others interpret it as teaching that desires or longings of every kind whatsoever possess this sinister potency of recreating life and keeping one entangled in the meshes of the net of existence.
The truth of the destruction of pain